Tidepooling

What is tidepooling?

Tidepooling, or exploring tidepools, is a fun way to learn about the ocean. Since it’s done from land, you can easily nature journal your experience. You also don’t need to be a strong swimmer or as comfortable in the water as you would for snorkeling.

Tidepools are pools of seawater on the shoreline which are exposed by low tides. At high tide, the ocean level rises and covers these pools. They are most often found in rocky areas.

Tidepools are home to a variety of fascinating sea life. These species need to be tough to handle the extreme changes of temperature, water levels, and currents. It is hot, sunny, and drier at low tide. At high tide, they are covered in cooler ocean water, and have to withstand the currents and crashing waves.

The best time to visit tidepools is usually at low tides. This makes sense — the pools will be under water at high tide! Even at low tide, you should be careful of large surf — an occasional bigger set of waves can still hit the pools and wash you (or your stuff) out to sea.

Tides are affected by your location, the moon, and the time of year. There is a bigger difference between high and low tide during the new and full moons (mahina hou a me mahina poepoe), and less during the quarter moons (mahine ‘ole). You can find the tides online witht the NOAA calendar or on a website with a tide chart like WillyWeather or US Harbors. Be sure to search and find the tide station closest to where you plan to go.

If you are visiting an area that remains connected to the ocean even at low tide, it might be best to go at a slack tide. Slack tide is usually midway between high and low tide, when the currents are the calmest.

Note: One of the many reasons I love tidepooling is that the beaches are often sunny or just cloudy even on rainy days, with only passing showers. It’s rare that it is pouring rain at the beach.

Safety first

• Check water conditions – watch out for strong surf and currents.
• Beware of sharp or slippery rocks.
• Walk slowly and watch for holes, crevices and drop-offs on the reef.
• Don’t put your hands or feet in holes or under ledges where you can’t see.
• Be careful of dangerous marine life.
• If you don’t know what something is, don’t touch it.
• Protect yourself from the sun.
• (List from DLNR)

Nature journaling tidepools

You can use my observation sheet for tidepools or my observation sheet for shore to help guide your nature journaling.

If you’re using your own journal or a blank page, I recommend having robust metadata. The weather, moon, tide, and surf all affect what you will notice at the tidepools.

You might choose to use waterproof paper to protect against drips and drops and splashes. Pencils work well, you don’t need to buy the fancy pen (unless you want to).

Where to go (on Oahu)

I’m most familiar with my island, but feel free to contact me with other suggestions.

• North side of Sandy Beach
• Baby Makapu’u — north end of Makapu’u beach (around the corner and closer to the pier)
• Shark’s Cove (be very careful with high surf)
• Ke iki beach (close to Shark’s cove, not as crowded)
• Turtle Bay (there is public parking and you can walk east of the resort)

You can also often discover small pockets of tidepools all along the coast. Just keep an eye out for the rocks along the shoreline — even ones without pools of water will have ‘opihi, snails, crabs, as well as different types of algae. Tidepool species will also grow and hang out around cement pilings for piers.

What you might find

DLNR has a great, simple illustrated guide of commonly found fish, invertebrates, and corals, and algae.

You can also check out iNaturalist for the most commonly reported species.

Be sure to keep an eye out for birds you might see, too!

Migratory birds from DLNR.

List of common seabirds with photos from Hawaii Marine Animal Response. A more in-depth listing from Cascadia Research.